This Doctor of Ministry project is a Case- guided study of a mega- African American church that developed a Bible study used for church wide identity formation. The study was conducted during completion of a Doctor of Ministry degree. It is a study of a church facing the formidable challenges that they must face as a church serving a community with complex and varied needs. A case -guided research was chosen for this Doctor of Ministry project because it encompassed the process that was essential to investigation of a church searching for its mission identity. This was a study of a church that was intentional about their methodologies, scripturally commanded requirements about church, preaching, discipline, baptism and many other biblical practices. Church and worship can't take just any form. In missional churches, those biblical forms are central, but things like worship style, evangelism methods, attire, service times, locations, and many other man-made customs are not chosen simply based on the preference of the members. Instead, the forms are best determined by their effectiveness in a specific cultural context. This project presents an organized and systematic form for understanding the process of discovery the researcher experienced during the development and execution of a church wide identity examination. Case study research guided the basic research design.

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The religions of China and the works of Protestantism have been written by many scholars both American and European but most of them were incomplete in mind or written with a special interest of a certain denomination. The aim of this thesis is to present (1) the religious conditions of China before the entrance of Protestantism (2) the historical facts of Protestantism and (3) the present condition of the Chinese Christianity. Special attention will be given to the beginning, the growth, the persecution and some characteristic facts of Protestantism. The materials are almost all mined out of the Chinese records but they have been carefully compared with English writings. It is written without the idea of criticism or the feeling of prejudice. Some critical facts in it are taken from English books.

The investigations which follow were undertaken out of a desire to make a definite and practical contribution to the study of the literature of the Disciples of Christ. Especially have we wanted to devise some means of putting the informaiton concerning this distinctive literature into such a form as to make it useable and helpful to the ministers and laymen in the movement in question. This we believe has been accomplished in Part II of the present volume.

My purpose in this thesis is to show the development of religious ideas in connection with the social and cultural evolution of the Japanese people and to indicate the place of Christianity in the modern period of Japan's religous history.

In 1898 the Disciples of Christ took over the Equator station of the American Baptist Foreign Mission Union at Bolenge. From that time this mission has enjoyed a steady growth, both in missionary personnel and its influence on native life in the Equator District of the Colony of Congo Belge. Its influence has also reached parts of three of the districts bordering on Equator District. It is with the church that this mission has won from the surrounding heathenism and with the church that it is hoped may be built up in this section from this beginning that this thesis primarily deals.

"And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee but my Father which is in heaven. And I say unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven." Matt. 16: 16-19

There is an almost universal demand in Christendom for a union of churches, which will, in some way, give stability and visibility to the unity of all Christians. Throughout the world there are new movements toward unity. In England, Scotland, United States and Canada, in fact the majority of countries where the reform faith is in the strongest, there is a tendency to accentuate the things that unite.

The objective of the writer of this thesis is to present a plain account of the work of Paul as an evangelist in the field of early Christianity. In his labors to spread the gospel, and in his endeavors to lead people to accept and obey that gospel, Paul was a devoted man. His devotion to this great cause, however, had not always been characteristic of Paul. He once lived in direct hostility to the cause for which he later endangered and finally surrendered his life. This change of mind and conduct will be better understood when we consider his early life, his conversion, and his commission.

Wilmington Yearly Meeting of Friends is nearing its fiftieth anniversary of its founding, 1892-1942. It should be of particular interest to the entire membership of the Yearly Meeting to pause and reflect on these eventful years that go to make up its history, not for the sake of the history itself, not to boast over any singular achievements, but rather to receive an insight and sense of direction that may profit the institution in years to come.